I am not sure how many years ago we started hitting balls but I know when we started going to the north dome we were no where near the numbers we are today. I think the first time out we were around 6 – 12 people and today we at 16 – 40 each week. We did not start until the 2nd week in January only to be cancelled because of -38 degree temperatures that the majority did not want to venture out in. I was surprized to learn about one diehard that showed up on that frigid evening. The 3rd week was pretty chilly but 16 of us hardy souls showed up in our layers, toques and mittens. We hit a few balls then retired to Mulligans early for our meal and beverages, I am not sure how well a cold beer went over that night.
To get the most out of our practice it is important to spend enough time on our weaknesses as well as our strengths. It is important to warm up prior to hitting a bunch of balls and especially at the Dome when it is a bit cooler. I find practice is better when we have a purpose and there are a number of games we can play with ourselves to make it more interesting. Here are a couple of practice drills I found, maybe we can have some fun with them over the next couple of months.
Find the Fairway Drill helps improve accuracy off the tee so we can find more fairways and give us an easier approach shot to the greens.
- Create an imaginary fairway on the range roughly 20 yards wide (at the dome a couple targets/flags, or an outdoor range 2 trees, a flagstick and a tree or two posts)
- Imagine that water or a sand bunker is on one side to increase the difficulty
- Hit 10 balls
- Hybrid or long iron and find the fairway – 1 point
- Fairway wood – 2 points
- Driver – 3 points
- Hit 10 balls
9 -Shot Drill improves ball striking
- Using a 6 or 7 iron try and play nine different shots
- Straight (high, low and normal flight)
- Fade (high, low and normal flight)
- Draw (high, low and normal flight)
Weekly practice gives us the opportunity to work on our swings and those shots we need to improve. More important is the fantastic opportunity to get to know each better and enjoy the friendly banter and laughter.